Farmers have typically managed and operated farm houses, such as chicken houses and hog houses, by performing the day to day farm tasks manually. These tasks primarily included providing adequate feed and water to the housed animals or livestock. Over time, farmers have determined that controlling certain parameters could lead to higher yields and quality in the livestock. For example, temperature, humidity, ventilation, feed cycles and lighting all contribute to successful livestock and improved yields. Moreover, through the selective breading process, certain desired characteristics like meat yield have been modified. However, some selective breading may result in an animal that may be stressed very easily based upon changes in the surrounding environment. These types of animals require very specific conditions in order to thrive. Maintaining these specific conditions requires a significant amount of oversight and time to ensure the proper environment is maintained.
Control systems for farm houses initially started with simple analog controls, such as thermostats to control temperature in the farm house. Digital controllers soon followed and have generally replaced manual or analog controls in farm houses. By way of example and not limitation, CTB, Inc., of Milford, Ind. offers a Chore-Tronics(®) controller that is capable of allowing the farmer to monitor and control several parameters. These parameters are generally controlled automatically, via various sensors and actuators positioned throughout the farm house. The parameters controlled in a farm house, such as a poultry or hog house generally include, temperature, humidity, water, ventilation, timers for feeder and waterers, and timers for lights.
The farmer may typically adjust the farm house controller either on-site or through a processor, such as a personal computer (PC), that is in communication with the farm house controller. The PC may be located at the farmer's office on the farm or at a site remote from the farm. Integrators that provide the animals, feed and support, as well as harvest the mature animals, however, generally do not have access to any information from the farm houses. This can result in the integrators receiving different quality product from different farms, which is undesirable. For example, providing consistent weight for chicken breast meat or other desired meats is of critical importance to the integrator and its customers. Because of this, the integrator needs to properly schedule harvesting of the livestock to ensure the desired weight of the animal is reached when the animal is harvested. Also, feed delivery and ensuring that there is enough feed at each farm is also of critical importance to the integrator. If there is insufficient feed available, the animals may be stressed. If too much feed is delivered to the farm, a specialized truck may be required to pick up the excess feed at the farm adding additional cost to the integrator.
There is, therefore, a need by the integrators to monitor and possibly control the various farm houses it contracts with to ensure high quality, consistent and low cost yields.